Method of and apparatus for treating strands



Sept. 21, 1937. L. F. LAMPLOUGH 2,093,680

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING STRANDS Filed Oct. 31, 1935 INVENTOR L. "F. LAMPLOUGH eoqvlwp ATTORNEY Patented Sept. '21, 1937 1 UNI ED. STATES PATENT OFFICE -METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING STRANDS Leslie F. Lamplough, Baltimore, Md., assignor to Western Electric Company, lncorporated New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 31, 1935, Serial No. 47,607

1 Claim. (Cl. 51-450) This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for treating strands and more particulariy toa method of and apparatus for cleanin and scouring the surface of metallic strands such as tinned copper wires.

In the manufacture of, coated metalstrands and particularly in the manufacture of electrical conductors comprising metal cores having insulating sheaths of non-conductive material such as one of the familiar rubber compounds or cel lulose enamel or the like or other suitable insulating material, thedegree of adhesion between the core and the coating will depend in part, upon the physical condition of the surface of the core at the time when the sheathing material is applied thereto. Aside from the self -evidently necessary removal of dirt, gross scale, corrosion products, and the like from the surface of the core, it

may be of importance to modify the cleansed surface mechanically to polish, render it faintly rough, or to definitely roughen the surface to achieve in any given case a desired degree of lack of adhesion or of positive adhesion of the sheath to the core.

One object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for treating the surface of strands to cleanse, scour, polish, roughen or otherwise modify the same as may be desired.

In one embodiment of the invention means are provided to apply against the longitudinally moving core a block of abrasive resilient material of suitable physical character to produce the desired effect, it having been found that blocks of rubber compound filled with comminuted abrasive material are eminently suitable, the proportion of rubber compound and of abrasive and the fineness of grain of the abrasive being selected to accord with the material of the strand to be treated. and the effect to be produced on the surface thereof. 1

Other objects and features of the invention will appear from the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which the same reference numerals are applied to identical parts in the several figures and in which Fig. 1 is a broken view in. side-elevation of an apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention; r

Fig. 2 is a similar view thereof in end. elevation;

Fig. 3 is a detached sectional view of a scouring block, and

Fig. 4 is a similar view of another block.

'In the description of the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, there is assumed a strand working machine of any kind adapted to perform some operation on a strand, in which it is desirable to polish, scour, .mechanically 5 cleanse, roughen or analogously treat the strand in preparation for or in consequence to the action of the machine. This machine is assumed to have means not shown to draw or propel a strand or a plurality of parallel strands 20 from a supply, not shown, at the right in Fig. 1 to operating apparatus at the left, also not shown; this machine is further assumed to have a frame on some 1 part 2| of which the apparatus of the invention is mounted.

The, apparatus of the invention comprises a supporting member or base 22 secured to the machine frame 2| by screws 23, 23. The base 22 is formed at the rear of its left hand portion with a pair of rearwardly extending arms 24, 24. A pivotal member 25 is mounted on a shaft 26 carried by the rear ends of the arms 24, 24 and is formed with a tail member 21 to coact with a transverse stop 28 formed integral with or secured to the arms 24 and serving to prevent the 25 member 25 from rotating clockwise beyond the position thereof shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The forward end of the member 25 is provided with an enlarged head 29 to provide weight to press the head downwardly upon strands passing thereunder.

The left hand portion of the base 22 is formed with two recesses 30 and 3t, one on each side of the head 29 and the head is formed with a recess 32. Blocks 33, 34 and of scouring material are seated respectively in the recesses 30, 3| and 32, and are held in place therein respectively by cross bars 36, 31 and 38 secured in position by screws 39. Guide pins are mounted in the member 22 in front of the block. 33 and behind the block 34 toleadthe strands 20 to the block 33 and'from the block 34, the number of the pins 40 depending upon the number of strands to be treated.

The blocks 33, 34 and 35 are molded'from a mixture of a binder material and an abrasive material which are preferably respectively a rubber composition and pumice, quartz, emery or carborundum' powder or the like.

home instance a material having the composition tabulated below was found to be eminently satisfactory for ridding the surface of a tinned copper wire of corrosion products and dirt, and

for preparing the surface to receive a rubber compound insulation sheath.

In operation, the member 25 may be tilted back into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 while the strands 20 are being threaded through the apparatus, the member being held in this position by its own weight and by the tail 21 and stop 28. The member 25 is then returned to the full line position, in which it presses the block down upon the upper side of the strands and also presses the strands down against the blocks 33 and 34. Figs. 3 and 4 show the vertical relations of the block 34, strands 20 and blocks 33 and 34. The several blocks 33, 34, and 35 may be grooved beforehand to receive the strands if desired, although in general this is not necessary as the strands will embed themselves sufliciently,

in most cases, at first by the elastic yielding of the blocks to the strands under the weight of the head 29 and shortly thereafter by the wearing of grooves into the blocks as the strands are drawn over them. It is found that material of the nature described is efficient to scour the surface of the strand and is friable enough to wear away sufiiciently rapidly to be at all times clean, the detritus from the action being swept out of the grooves by the strands.

The invention is not confined to the proportions of ingredients of the scouring blocks disclosed above as these may be varied, as also the coarseness of the abrasive ingredient, to vary the severity of the securing action as desired.

The embodiment of the invention herein disclosed is illustrative only and may be widely modified and departed from in many ways without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as pointed out in and limited solely by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

An apparatus for treating longitudinally moving strands comprising a pair of fixed longitudinally spaced resilient rubber blocks having an abrasive material embedded therein, said blocks having grooves in one face thereof, a floating intermediate block of similar material having a groove in an opposite face, means for applying a predetermined pressure to said intermediate block to urge it against a strand, thereby forcing said strand into the grooves of the fixed blocks with a predetermined pressure, and means for drawing a strand through said apparatus.

LESLIE F. LAMPLOUGH. 

